Although 79 percent of healthcare professionals expressed concern about the cybersecurity of their own healthcare information, 68 percent said their organizations are doing enough to protect patient privacy, according to a survey commissioned by cybersecurity firm Venafi.
For the survey, Venafi spoke with 122 healthcare professionals at the 2018 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference March 5-9 about the sector's response to cyber threats.
Here are three survey findings.
1. The vast majority (87 percent) of respondents expressed concern about the reliability and availability of critical healthcare infrastructure being compromised by cyberattacks.
2. Although 33 percent of respondents believe there is too much cybersecurity regulation in healthcare, 29 percent said there is not enough.
3. Respondents (76 percent) also believe government-mandated backdoors to encryption technology could harm patients' privacy and security of their personal information.
"It's very clear healthcare professionals are deeply concerned about the protection of their own healthcare data," Nick Hunter, senior manager of threat intelligence and risk awareness at Venafi, said in a press release. "Unfortunately, cyber attacks spread just like infectious diseases; attackers target victims with weak security hygiene, adapt quickly and have learned to use security defenses to hide malicious activities in plain sight. It's going to take a concerted effort across the healthcare industry to improve cyber security outcomes."
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